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Winter's first blast leaves man dead in snow

A day after bearing the brunt of southern Ontario's first major snowstorm of the season, cottage country was digging out and assessing the damage – including what may be the season's first weather-related death.

A day after bearing the brunt of southern Ontario's first major snowstorm of the season, cottage country was digging out and assessing the damage – including what may be the season's first weather-related death.

Greg Shepherd, 60, was found under a snowdrift near Bracebridge on Saturday afternoon.

Police believe his car became stuck in snow Friday morning and that he trekked back to his house to get his truck.

As he was digging out the truck, he appears to have suffered a heart attack.

He wasn't discovered until 4:30 p.m. the following day, when a worker arrived to clear snow from his driveway and hit him with a plow.

"He was under five feet of snow," said OPP Sgt. Greg Allison. "There was no way anyone could have seen him."

Shepherd's wife was on vacation at the time. The father of six had complained of chest pains earlier in the week, and the police investigation suggests his death was a medical issue, but officials won't be certain until after a post-mortem.

A state of emergency declared Friday by Mayor Don Coates remained in effect as crews continued to push back the piles of snow.

Highway 11, where motorists became stranded overnight Friday and Saturday, was open, as were other main streets in the area.

"We have had a month to a month-and-a-half's snowfall in a two-day period," Coates said, noting that some roads were covered by 15 to 20 centimetres of hard, packed snow. "We're certainly still working on widening streets and getting everything accessible."

About 3,000 people remained without power in the town Sunday.

In nearby Minden Hills township, which was hit with 140 centimetres of snow, the main thoroughfares were clear Sunday, but crews were still shovelling side streets and rural roads.

"There have been a few hydro outages, but no major damages," said Deputy Reeve Cheryl Murdoch. "The big scare now is if (the snow) melts and turns into slush, and that doubles or triples the weight on the roofs."

In the GTA, Environment Canada had issued a freezing rain warning for parts of Peel, York and Durham regions Sunday, but those areas received only about one or two millimetres of precipitation.

"It's not very typical freezing rain. It's very light and patchy, but we had reports it was slippery on some roads," said meteorologist Ela Ros.

A low-pressure system will likely bring some rain and light snow to the GTA Monday, but there are no major storms predicted for this week, she said.

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